Congress Receives White House Draft Resolution On Syria

An aide to House Speaker John Boehner says the speaker's office has received a White House draft of a resolution authorizing President Barack Obama to use military force against Syria.

The draft follows through on Obama's decision, announced Saturday, to seek congressional approval for a strike against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.

The resolution lays out the administration's claim that the regime killed more than 1,000 last week in a chemical weapons attack. It says the objective of a U.S. military response would be to "deter, disrupt, prevent and degrade" the regime's ability to use chemical weapons going forward.

The resolution authorizes Obama to use the military as he determines "necessary and appropriate" to serve that goal.

The draft doesn't lay out a timeline for action. But it does say only a political settlement can resolve the Syrian crisis.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says public hearings before the Foreign Relations Committee and classified and unclassified briefings for senators are being scheduled for next week.

Both the Senate and the House plan a vote on the matter no later than the week of Sept. 9.

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President Barack Obama says he has decided that the United States should take military action against Syria in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack.

But he says he will seek congressional authorization for the use of force.

He says congressional leadership plans to hold a debate and a vote as soon as Congress comes back in September.

Obama says he has the authority to act on his own, but believes it is important for the country to have a debate.

Military action would be in response to a chemical weapons attack the U.S. says Syrian President Bashar Assad's government carried out against civilians. The U.S. says more than 1,400 Syrians were killed in that attack last week.

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